PREFACE. 



Many of the Reports of the past year contain an unu- 

 sual amount of interestmg and valuable reading, the 

 result of intelligent practice and thoughtful preparation. 



" To make up a volume of such reading," says the 

 prompt and efficient secretary of the Essex Agricultural 

 Society, " the reports of the various committees must be 

 prepared with some special care and attention. It will 

 afford but little satisfaction to others, to have a bald 

 statement of the award of premiums ; but if the report 

 contain the reason of the awards, a comparison of the 

 relative merits of the competitors — suggestions as to the 

 failure of the unsuccessful, and such remarks as the ex- 

 perience or reflections of the writer may prompt him to 

 offer, it will then form a paper worthy of perusal and 

 preservation. It is in the power of every one who con- 

 tributes to our pages, to earn for himself the enviable 

 distinction that he has done what he could. This 

 certainly is all that can be required — wdth less than 

 this we ought not to be satisfied. Any one who reads 

 the early reports of the society, will see at once that a 

 sense of personal responsibility governed the writers of 

 them. They felt that they wrote for posterity — why 

 should not we thus write our reports, and make our 

 statements of agricultural experiments ? 



